


David is the Light of My Life

by theangryplaywright



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Crutchie is trying his best, David is a lamp, Human Furniture, My First Fanfic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sad Jack Kelly, Schizophrenia, schizophrenic Jack Kelly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-18 22:03:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20646377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theangryplaywright/pseuds/theangryplaywright
Summary: Everything is the same, except David is a lamp. Like, he's literally a lamp. Based on that one tumblr image where, you guessed it, David is a lamp.This was a crack prompt that I'm actually putting effort in for some reason. I have literally no outline for my plot, let me know if ya'll want anything in particular.





	David is the Light of My Life

**Author's Note:**

> Idk either guys, but thanks for stopping by! Check the bottom for additional notes, and please forgive me for the formatting, I haven't quite figured out AO3
> 
> Enjoy!

Jack groggily opened his eyes to see the dim outline of a sandy haired teenager going through the motions of his morning routine, despite the fact that the sun had just barely begun to peek over the horizon. He yawned, and sat up slightly to watch the boy bustle around.

  
“Hey, where’s ya goin’? The mornin’ bell ain’t even rung yet.” The blond looked up from doing the buttons on his vest to give Jack a stunning smile.

  
“I thought I might want ta beat the other fellas to the streets. I uh,” he looked down, slightly embarrassed, “ I didn’t want the others to see, I ain’t been walkin’ so good” The kid’s actual name was Charlie Morris, but because of his gimp leg, the other newsies just called him Crutchie. “Now be a pal Jack, and help me down-” He suddenly cut himself off with a yelp as he narrowly avoided falling off of the balcony of the fire escape where the boys had long ago made their home. Jack quickly ran to the smaller kid to help pull him up.  
“What, did ya want ta bust ya other leg too?!”

  
“No, I wanted to go down.” Jack sighed as he wiped the sleep from his eyes after making sure Crutchie was safe on the landing.

  
“We’ll go down soon enough. Just.. take a moment. Drink in my-” Jack gestured vaguely to the fire escape, “-penthouse. High above the stinkin’ streets of New York.” Crutchie giggled a bit before looking over at Jack.

  
“You’re crazy.” Almost immediately the light hearted atmosphere disappeared, and Crutchie clamped his jaw shut before looking wide-eyed at the taller boy. Of course, Crutchie had just made the comment as a lighthearted joke, something anyone else would brush off and laugh at. But not Jack. The thing was, teasing is only fun until it makes a hit at something too close to home. Jack had often been told that he was crazy, which he supposed was to be expected because it was true- or, it was true as far as he could tell.

  
The first time Jack realized that he was different was when he was about 6, and living at the refuge. It had been a particularly rough night, as Snyder had been drinking, and decided to take it out on the boys. Snyder seemed to hate Jack even more than he  
hated the other boys. Perhaps it was because he could never focus on anything, was defiant, and had a big mouth. But what infuriated Snyder the most is that Jack would constantly and blatantly lie. He could beat attention into the boy, he could whip any resistance away, and he could threaten the boy to silence, but he couldn’t stop the boy from lying- mainly because Jack himself had no idea that he was doing it. Sure, he knew when he was told something wasn’t true, he had the scars and bruises as receipts, but there was no telling what Snyder- or even the other boys- would claim to be false. He for sure saw a man break in and steal snyder’s food, but no one else did, and Jack once again got stuck with the blame and the bruises. And then there was that dog, the one that would come and comfort Jack whenever he was crying from whatever Snyder had done that day, or whatever nightmare he may have had that night. One day he had stolen some food for his furry friend (whom he had named spot, because he was a kid, and what else do you name a dog when you’re 6?) and one of the older boys- Connor, Jack thinks his name was- had started beating on him for hoarding the food to himself.  
“It’s not for me, it’s for the him, look at ‘im, he’s starving, like us!” Jack cried, pointing to the corner where his furry friend sat.  
“There ain’t nothin’ there. What are you, crazy or sometin’?” Connor snarled, before shoving jack aside and taking the food. Jack had looked around the room for support, only to find scornful expressions.

  
This pattern continued throughout his time at the refuge, with people and visions that no one else seemed to see, scents and sounds that weren’t real to anyone but the scrawny dark haired boy. A man by the name of Eugen Bleuler would identify Jack’s condition as schizophrenia in the year of 1911, but in the good ol’ 1880’s, Jack was simply “crazy.” That’s what people saw him as, and that’s all he was. A crazy kid trapped in his own delusions.

Jack snapped from his reverie to look down at Crutchie, who had the abashed face of one who had just accidentally stepped on a puppy’s paw.

  
“Jack, I-”

  
“Crutch, you're fine. Forget about it, I know you don’t mean nothin’ by it. And besides, once we finally gets to Santa Fe, dere’s won’t be no one making’ fun of us. No one notices no gimp leg when you riding in style on a palomino-” Crutchie rolled his eyes slightly, but smiled nonetheless. Jack was always plotting to leave the big city for a fresh start in New Mexico, and with what Crutchie knew of Jack’s life in New York, he didn’t blame him. Besides, although he would rarely admit it to anyone besides Jack, being seen for something besides his disability didn’t seem so bad.

  
“Yeah, pitcha’ me, ridin’ in style,” he chortled.

  
“I can see it clear as day! Close your eyes, I’ll betcha’ yous can see it too. “ Santa Fe had been one of Jack’s “visions” ever since he could remember, and sometimes he could quite literally see it clear as day, which -especially in his youth- made it very difficult to determine where he was. Though to a casual observer it would seem ridiculous, Jack secretly hoped that maybe, just maybe finding Santa Fe would make everything fall into place, and prove to himself that maybe he wasn’t all as crazy as people said. So it was Santa Fe that he clung to, and would continue to cling to until he got to where he was going. Crutchie had been the only one who hadn’t seen Jack as a nutcase, and Jack hadn’t immediately blown Crutchie off as an invalid the second the met, so the two hit it off almost instantly, and had remained practically inseparable ever since.

The boys took in the view of grime encrusted building, while envisioning green fields and blue skies, hoping for a future that may or may not come to pass.

  
Suddenly, the morning bell rang out, rudely interrupting both of their thoughts and making them both jolt with surprise. Jack stretched, yawned loudly, and knocked Crutchie’s back.

  
“Time for dreamin’s done, kid.” Taking one last look around, he shouted the words that started the day of the typical manhattan newsie:  
“Hey! Specs, Racer, Henry, Albert, Elmer, get a move on! Them papes don’t sell themselves!”

  
But despite the familiar words, the more than expected groans from the above-mentioned boys, and all-around routine start, the day was to be anything but normal- even for a crazy kid.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a crack prompt that I'm actually putting effort in for some reason. I have literally no outline for my plot, let me know if ya'll want anything in particular.  
I'll try to update as soon as possible, but senior year is a bitch so no promises.  
Thank you guys for reading and going on this wild ride with me! :D  
If you guys have any comments, questions, suggestions, concerns, please let me know in the comment section! This is my first fic, so I definitely take criticism :)  
I hope you find reasons to smile today!


End file.
